BILL KETTER: Georgia’s Greene, Hollywood shuffle
Published 2:30 pm Sunday, February 18, 2024
Funny, spirited improvised comedy is not provocateur Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s thing, especially when the biting humor flies over her head.
Greene, a far-right Republican, unloaded her latest outrage on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the irreverent sitcom starring actor-writer Larry David playing an irascible version of himself.
Strangely, she called out Republicans in her home state for coddling Hollywood by embracing Georgia’s generous film and TV tax credit law that brought the show to Atlanta for initial episodes of its final season.
After watching the Feb. 11 installment, Greene wrote about it on the X social media site as “a glaring reminder of why most Georgians resent Republicans for inviting the nasty commies from California, the Hollywood elites” to take advantage of the 2008 law.
Her putdown didn’t stop there. Greene also slammed activist Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former gubernatorial candidate, and critics of Georgia’s 2021 election law that forbids giving food or water to voters waiting in long lines.
The episode, she said, “lied and painted GA conservatives and Trump supporters as racists and rednecks and made fun of our new law that stops the Stacey Abrams vote pandering machine and prevents voter fraud.”
No witty-funny, knee-slapping for Greene over the scene showing Larry David released from jail on a charge of offering water to a friend in a voter queue, then praised by Abrams and rock star Bruce Springsteen for ignoring the no-drink, no-food law.
Greene, of course, saw it as a law to prevent voter fraud. Opponents perceive it for what it is — a voter suppression measure.
“We in Georgia” she stated, “are fed up with disgusting Hollywood and their disgusting values and elite judgment in our state that is trying to turn GA blue!”
Three months ago Greene mixed it up with comedian-late night show host Jimmy Kimmel over his panning her book “MTG,” a political memoir detailing her journey from a small town to the halls of Congress as a warrior for the far-right.
Kimmel remarked on his show that Greene took “a break from burning books to write one” and that “it is such a bomb I might have to report it to the Capitol police.”
Earlier, Greene had posted on her X account: “Hey @jimmykimmel since most of your show content is nonstop lies about me, why don’t you have me on your show? I’ll bring a copy of my book and we can chat about what needs to happen to SAVE AMERICA!”
Greene and Kimmel specialize in rabble-rousing. Kimmel does it for comedic hire, Greene for troubling political extremism.
And with the GOP far-right in Congress leveraging newfound power, she is gaining destructive influence. Examples include the House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Greene filed the original resolution to impeach Mayorkas over what the resolution described as high crimes and misdemeanors for the immigrant crisis at the southern border.
If the Senate holds a trial on the impeachment, an iffy likelihood, Greene stands to get a leading role in prosecuting the sure-to-fail case before the Democrat-majority Senate.
But given her political hair-on-fire reputation, the proceedings may well prompt another episode on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — and lots of laughs on SNL and late night comedy shows.